Sokka's Prideful Challenge
by Username Unlisted
Summary: When Sokka had lost SwordBending, he contented himself in that he had at least won the battle of words. (From the lost adventures comic.) But then he had lost that too. So now, he feels he must defeat Zuko in a battle of swords to make in even again; and so he strategizes the fight before the challenge.
1. The Cause of the Sulking

**Disclaimer: I don't claim Avatar The Last Airbender, nor it's characters.**

 **Another thing; this chapter is really bad, I know, but chapter two is MUCH better, as I hope the rest will be also.**

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 **The Cause of the Sulking**

It was the day before Sokka asked Zuko about where the water tribe warriors where held, that Sokka bravely challenged the Fire ex-prince to an honorable SwordBending match.. and then was defeated multiple times after learning that Zuko had trained his early teen years under Master Piandao.

Sokka had managed to preserve some of his pride though, in the fact that he got Zuko to admit that their match was, indeed, 'SwordBending' and also got to see the expression on Zuko's face as his boomerang hit the back of his head, sending his swords flying from his hands- it was priceless. But his glee was short lived as he recalled just how easily and quickly Zuko had defeated him, and his mood turned more somber.

Over the next several days, everything happened in a rush, he and Zuko rescued his dad and Suki from the firenation prison, then they were attacked, separated, and forced to flee the western air temple and make camp in some field, then Zuko and Katara took off for a day. After that, there was, finally, a nearly quiet day but for Aang's fire and earth bending lessons. That night, after dinner, Sokka decided to show off his Haiku. It would help calm everyone down from the eventful past week.. and it was also partly just so he could remind everyone of his amazing talent that he had found in Ba Sind Se.

It was the first time Zuko heard him do poetry, and because of that, he had apparently thought it necessary to comment during it. He had said that Sokka's choice of sentences were not poetic. It being an obviously false opinion, Sokka declared them to be _very_ poetic, and glared at Zuko. When he saw that his words had no effect on him, he rightly challenged Zuko to a Haiku match, which Zuko accepted with a sigh.

After reminding each other that Haiku was done in syllables of five, seven, then five again, they started.

"Your royal teaching

makes you think you are clever

But yet to be seen."

Sokka smirked at Zuko, and Zuko calmly replied,

"Not surprisingly

I learned to speak fluently

correct poetry."

He smiled slightly, and Sokka frowned in return.

"Yet you did succumb

to my name of sword bending

You thought yourself dumb."

Sokka crossed his arms, and smirked again. Zuko's eye twitched.

"I have learned Haiku

You have learned nothing of it

What is it to you?"

Sokka blinked.

"I will answer this..

Haiku is fancy speaking

That is all it is."

Sokka looked around at the others sitting around the fire hesitantly as he finished. Zuko sighed.

"You apparently

do not know Haiku, Sokka

So I am tiring."

Sokka turned his attention back to Zuko and glared at him. With renewed confidence, he continued.

"These are words with rhyme

what else can there be to it?

So I am doing fine."

Everyone stared at him. He stared back. Zuko smiled. He counted his Rhyme on his fingers: "These are words with rhyme." So that's five. "What else can there be to it?" That's seven. "So I am doing fine." That's.. six. He realized he had accidentally said 'I am' rather than 'I'm'. He looked up from his fingers at Zuko, who was grinning down at him in what seemed like a rather arrogant fashion to Sokka.

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 **Notes: I don't know anything about Haiku poetry honestly, and it is just a small part of this story, but even so, I apologize to anyone who finds this a cringe worthy experience of a first chapter, and hope you'll ignore it and go on to the next anyways.**

 **This is my first attempt at fanfiction, so I understand there's a lot of mistakes- pointing them out would be appreciated of anyone who has the time. Any other type of reviews would be nice too, of course.**


	2. The Realization

**The Realization**

"Sokka." Aang said, walking up behind the sulking figure sitting at the edge of the camp.

"Yeah Aang?" he grumbled, looking down at his feet. "What?"

"You can't act like this forever- it's been two days. What's wrong?"

"The SwordBending." he muttered.

"Wait, I thought you were happy with how the SwordBending turned out?" Aang said, remembering Sokka's triumphant grin.

"What?" Sokka turned and looked up at him bewildered. "No, of course I wasn't; he knocked me on my face nine times!"

"Yeah, but didn't you say something about losing the battle of swords, but winning the battle of words?"

Pouting, Sokka turned his head back to his feet. "Yes.. but then he beat me in Haiku, which brought back memories of SwordBending." He glared down at nothing.

"So?.."

Sokka jumped to his feet and turned his glare to the young avatar. "So he beat me at words too!"

"..Oh."

"So now I need.. I need.." Suddenly eyes became distant as he paused, frowning. "So now, I need to beat him in a battle of swords to make it even again."

"What? But Sokka.. he had years of training with Piando, where you only had a week."

"Master Piando told me that I was more worthy than any other of his past students though, probably because I came at things from odd angles.. so I just need to set up the fight before I challenge him in a spot where I know I can win..." Sokka wasn't paying any attention to him anymore, and Aang watched his expression change to the one seemingly reserved for strategy while he looked around the slightly hilly field.

Aang, now thoroughly confused, decided that he needed a translator for what Sokka had said, because though he didn't want a brooding Sokka, a seemingly conspiring one was likely worse. He set off to find Katara; she was his sister- she should know how to deal with him.

He quickly found her alone, in the middle of camp, laying out vegetables and meat on a stone counter that Toph must've EarthBended for her."Hey Katara," he said, walking up to her.

"Hey Aang." she replied, pulling a large kitchen knife from it's sheath, about to start cutting up a carrot on the rock counter. But then she noticed his face, and asked, "What's up- is there something wrong?"

"Actually, I'd like your help understanding Sokka."

She stopped after cutting just one slice of carrot and stared at him. "Me.. understand Sokka?" Aang nodded hesitantly. Katara just sighed and continued slicing up the carrot. "Go find Toph; I'm sure she'd be more helpful than me."

Aang looked at her confused. "Why?"

"Because they have a lot more in common, being loud, sarcastic, and meat-obsessed together, she has more of a chance understanding him than I would."

"Oh." He thought about it. "I guess you're right." He turned around to begin looking for Toph.

It took a few minutes of searching as she turned out to not be in the camp, but he finally spotted her starring at Sokka from a distance, who had also apparently left the camp. He walked up to her. "Why are you starring at him?"

Toph, clearly not surprised by his voice, answered, "It feels like he's thinking." She shook her head slightly in bewilderment. "I had to find out what it was."

"Then why not just ask him?"

"Because talking to him would cause him to lose his thought process, Noodlebrain, and I don't trust him enough to find it again."

"Ah." Aang said, not knowing how to reply to the rather harsh, but casually given insult to the guy she was effectively stalking. Then he remembered why he had searched for her. "Oh, I meant to ask you about him actually."

Toph groaned at the distraction that was Aang, and ignored him.

Ignoring the hint, Aang continued. "I talked to him earlier to see what was wrong, and he just brought up the SwordBending and Haiku matches he had with Zuko."

Toph suddenly brightened, and turned to him. "So that's what this is about?" she asked. "Him and Sparky?"

"I think so." Aang replied. "But halfway into his complaining about it to me, he seemed to get distracted, and mentioned something about Piandao."

"The sword master?"

"Yeah. And then something about planing ahead, and using the terrain, and other things I couldn't understand the reason for."

Toph frowned and faced Aang with blank eyes. "What do you not understand?" she asked.

"The parts about Piando, terrain, planning, and.. well, most of it actually."

Toph sighed. "Stop being so painfully ignorant." she told him. He started to respond, but she held a hand up and interrupted. "Just go back to Sweetness and help her make lunch; I'll deal with Sokka." A sly grin appeared on her face. "If it's terrain he needs, I might be able to enjoy- help him more."

Aang watched Toph's smile as she turned away from him and started walking off towards the pacing, mumbling Sokka. He had always considered himself the peacemaker of the group- being the avatar and all, that was his duty, but sometimes.. sometimes he thought it best to not get too involved. Seeing the entirely unsettling grin now stuck to Toph's face convinced him this was now one of those times.

He turned to go help with the vegetables.

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 **Notes: I think this one was much better; this was originally supposed to be the first chapter, with only mentions of the Haiku match, which.. might've been better, but either way, I feel like the comedy of Aang trying to understand and help Sokka until it becomes too dangerous -by means of Toph- is something that's funny, and suits the characters of everyone involved.**

 **Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Please review if you have time; let me know your thoughts.**


	3. The Promise of Entertainment

**The Promise of Entertainment**

Just after the fancy word contest that Snoozels and Sparky had a couple nights ago, Toph noticed two things- one was that Zuko was uncommonly _happy,_ though it probably didn't show on his face, as no one else seemed to notice. The other thing was that Sokka was, somewhat less uncommonly, _not_ happy- and that he didn't sleep that night. Or the next.

After the first night, she was curious, and after the second night, she became slightly worried too, so she decided to watch him. Around midday, she noticed Aang go up to him, but missed the conversation when Katara started preparing lunch and asked her what she would prefer to eat, and her thoughts turned to food as she thought of a bunch of different types of meat- there were priorities to be met.

Then she noticed Sokka wandering from the campsite, and followed, passing Aang as he went to, presumably, help with the vegetable part of food. She followed Sokka until they were almost out of site of the camp, when he stopped and started pacing back and forth, one hand under his chin, muttering to himself. Toph, staying hidden behind a small hill, was too far away to hear what he said, but through the earth, she felt his emotions and tense body, as he was completely focused on his thoughts. It was strange.

Just when she was starting to get bored, Twinkle-Toes suddenly snuck up on her, with the question, "Why are you starring at Sokka?"

Her heart leaped, but she played it as if she heard him coming the entire time, and replied that it was because he was thinking for once and it caught her attention, so she was curious. He then proceeded to annoy, then intrigue, and then annoy her again, so she sent him back to Katara.

With the new information that she got from him though, she was motivated to enjoy Sokka to the- er.. _help_ him to the best of her ability. As she got closer, Sokka looked up, and lowered his hand to his side. "Hey." he greeted, his tone distant.

"Hey." she replied. "So what's up with you- muttering instead of shouting, and staying up all night instead of sleeping into the middle of the day- you feeling alright?"

She felt his face turn from neutral to irritated. He waved her off. She didn't like that, so she shifted the ground under him, causing him to fall on his side with a "Oof" as she lifted a large amount of earth directly above him. "What's wrong?" she asked again.

He just sighed, then said in a calm, but tired voice, "Alright Toph, you don't need to threaten me. What do you want me to say- that I'm upset about Zuko beating me? You already know that."

"She dropped the earth next to him, and he stood up and looked at her. She crossed her arms, "I suppose you're right. I'll change my question then.. what are you going to do about it?" She paused, then smiled. "And how can I help?"

"Sokka stared at her a moment, before he replied cautiously, "If you're serious, then I'm wanting a rematch with Zuko." He seemed to think for a moment. "Oh, would you happen to know how to turn dirt into gravel?"

"What? Yeah, I could pull up some rocks and break them into gravel if that's what you mean. But.. why?" Toph replied confused.

"Great!" he replied too cheerfully. "Then if you want to help, I'd like it if you could make a medium sized field of loose gravel. Oh, and also fill it with several tall but thin stone pillars." He grinned broadly.

Toph just stood there for a good two minutes. "Why?" she finally asked.

"Because I'm going to challenge Zuko to SwordBending again!" he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You see, last time I didn't use the surroundings to the best I could've, so this time, I'm going to _create_ the surroundings." He paused. "I was just wishing there were trees, but sense there's not, then stone pillars should work; they limit the range of his dual swords, so a lot of his attacks will be more awkward, and hopefully slower too, on account of trying to avoid hitting the stone." he explained.

"Why gravel though?" Toph asked, still lost. This wasn't turning out to be very entertaining.

"Because you have absolutely terrible footing in gravel. And I noticed when I fought him last time, that he tends to-" he stopped, and all sense of enthusiasm left him.

Toph, feeling his stare on her, asked, "What?"

"Last time me and Zuko sparred.. you took his side." he said slowly. "Why would you help me now?"

"What? Is that all? I voted on Zuko because he was clearly going to win."

"What?!" Sokka huffed indignantly. He quickly regained composure though and continued. "But.. even if you knew that.." She felt him look down at her suspiciously. "You looked so _happy_ about it."

"Of course." she replied. "It's fun watching you get beat up; I'm always the one doing it- used to be that Katara would too, but then she had to go and focus her anger on Sparky for a couple weeks, and Aang's always been way too nice to you." She frowned for a moment before continuing. "But then you challenged Zuko to a sword fight, something you could never win, so confidently like you were just _begging_ for another person to start humiliating you.. it was great." She beamed up at him. "So thank's for being a complete idiot and all- it was pretty entertaining."

He frowned at her. "And why help me now?" he asked, seeming to just ignore most of what Toph had said, which was disappointing- she had been hoping for a stiff, stuttering, unbelievably angry Sokka, but.. he was in a different mind currently. She sighed. "Because I think this will be entertaining, obviously. And I knew it had something to do with Sparky when I felt him was starring at you for a few minutes earlier before heading off to go hunting- considering that you're a bit _useless_ right now, that you don't even do your _one_ daily chore.. seriously Not-So-Snoozles, Sparky's so bad at hunting that he brought back a single rabbit-turtle after hours yesterday, and still isn't back from when he left this morning."

He tilted his head to the side. "Not-So-Snoozles?"

"I can't very well call you 'Snoozles' when you don't snooze." she replied, prodding at the fact he hadn't been sleeping. "You know, you're dragging this out a lot, changing the subject, and not making any sense; do you want help or not?" she demanded.

"Yes!" he answered quickly. "Okay, sorry, I want your help.. thanks. Although Zuko staring at me is a little creepy.. but anyways." He shrugged and smiled. "But we should go a little further so they can't see us from tents." he said, looking behind them back at the camp. "And then soon we can do some more SWORDBENDING!"

Toph winced, and rubbed her ears, but then smiled as she turned and started following him further from the camp. "Lead the way then, great bender of swords."

Sokka's enthusiasm was a promise of entertainment to Toph.

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 **Notes: Toph.. you can always count on her to do _anything_ in her power to help.. so long as it's amusing.**

 **Remember to rate and review please.**


	4. The Eventual Agreement

**The Eventual Agreement**

Zuko had been wandering the plains for hours. He briefly remembered how, back when he and his Uncle had first became fugitives of the Firenation, he had only managed to catch a pitifully tiny fish.

His skills had not improved in the slightest.

The day before, he had been out most of the day hunting, and only found a small rabbit-turtle near a small, fishless pond. Today, he hadn't even had that much luck, not seeing a single animal at all.

He was groaning when he rounded another hill and saw a small patchwork of holes. Not knowing what they were, he knelt next to one. He frowned and reached toward the hole, but when his hand got close, a small, brown head popped out and bit it.

"Ow!" he yelled, jerking backward in an awkward sitting position. He glared at the hole the creature had ducked back into. Then he realized. "An animal." He stood up and thought. After a moment, he decided; since the creature had bit his finger for coming close the the hole, he would use his knife as bait, and when the creature's head came up, he'd grab it.

He drew the dagger from his boot, and moved the tip to the hole. The small creature's head stuck out, and Zuko snatched at it- but it ducked back into the hole before his hand got anywhere near it. He had repeated this three times when he lost his temper. "Get back here!" he yelled, reaching down into the hole searching for it. His middle finger tip was bit, and he swore as he yanked his hand back- only to find he couldn't get it out. His fingers continued to be bit until Zuko started flicking at the creature. Soon, it stopped biting and left.

"Ugh," he grumbled, pulling harder to get his hand out, but it remained decidedly stuck. He clawed at the dirt around his stuck hand with his free one, but to no real effect. He looked around for where he laid his dagger, only to see that he had thrown it out of reach in his frustration.

He was going to be there awhile it seemed.

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Surprisingly, he didn't have to wait too long. He was pulling on his buried hand's wrist with his free one as hard as he could, when he saw someone walking toward him. He didn't recognize the figure at first, but as she approached, he saw that it was Sokka's girlfriend, Suki.

She stopped in front of him. He looked up at her. She spoke. "Um, Zuko? Do you need help?"

"Uh.."

"What are you doing?"

"Creatures.." he shook and cleared his head. "There's small, brown animals living in these holes." he explained.

"Oh, yeah," Suki said, looking around them at the dozen holes. "Gophers." She looked down at him. "So you tried to catch one by reaching into the hole, and got your hand stuck instead. Do you need help?"

Zuko sighed. "Yeah.. if you don't mind.. thanks." Suki knelt down next to him, drew a hunting knife that Zuko was pretty sure belonged to Sokka, and began scrapping and digging the dirt surrounding his wrist. After a moment, she had dug enough that he was able to twist his hand around and widen the hole himself. After a few seconds, he was able to take his hand out. "Thank you." he said, rubbing his wrist.

"No problem," she replied, standing back up. "Why did you reach inside the hole though?"

He glared at the hole, once again thinking that he wasn't meant for hunting for his food. "I don't have much experience in this." he said. "And I honestly wish Sokka would just get his act together, so I wouldn't have to gain it."

She smiled. "You do know that you're the reason he sulking, right?"

Zuko glowered at her slightly. "He doesn't have to be so childish about it."

Suki laughed. Zuko blinked at her. "Zuko.. you've been around him long enough to know that 'being childish' is basically half his identity."

"Really?" Zuko drawled, now with a small smile of his own. "I thought it was ninety percent of it."

"Ha.. not that much." she said, her tone changing as her thoughts seemed to wonder.

Zuko didn't know how to respond. There was an awkward silence.

"So.." he started uncertainly. "What were you out here for?"

Suki blinked. "Oh, right. I was actually looking for you so I could help with hunting."

"You can hunt?"

"Well, I can trap. Speaking of which, about these gophers.." She turned and looked at the holes, then smiled as an idea came to her. "Take off your shirt." she told Zuko.

Zuko stepped back. _"What?"_

"Just do it."

He complied, taking his shirt off in front of her. As soon as he did, she took it from him, and placed it over the hole. Then she said, "Okay, so we need to block all but one of the other holes with dirt. Then you put grass into the free hole, and slowly burn it with your bending; the smoke will chase them out the only hole left- into your shirt, our improvised net."

They quickly packed most of the holes with dirt, and with grass for one, then Zuko knelt next to the grass filled hole and started burning it with a small flame at the end of his finger. Within half a minute, one of the gophers had gotten out and into his shirt where Suki then started to struggle with it. Another came, and another. Deciding that three was enough, Zuko stopped firebending, and helped Suki with the gophers.

He grabbed Sokka's hunting knife and- suddenly there was a loud scream of outrage that Zuko felt was directed at him. He jerked around and saw Katara and Sokka cresting the top of the hill.. the hill that Sokka just started running down at full speed.

Realizing what was about to happen, Zuko yelled, "Wait! Sokka, I have a-" Suki suddenly disarmed him of the knife he was about to mention just as Sokka crashed into him in a tackle. "Ugh!" Zuko grunted, the breath knocked out of him as his back slammed into the ground. Sokka rolled to the side, and Zuko sat up. "What's wrong with-" he started angrily as both he and Sokka stood up.

"Why are you out here alone with Suki- and with your shirt off?!" Sokka demanded. "And why were the two of you huddled down on the ground facing each other?!" His face was positively red now.

"We were just hunting!" Zuko exclaimed. "I got stuck, and Suki-"

"My girlfriend," Sokka added, hugging her protectively away from him.

"Sokka, it's fine!" Suki said, exiting his hug, and stepping between them. "After I got his hand unstuck-"

"What?" Sokka asked, his anger now tinted with confusion.

"He had his hand stuck in the ground, and couldn't get it out when I found him," Suki explained, gesturing to the hole. "I had to help dig it out for him, and-" She was interrupted when Sokka started laughing.

Zuko waited until Sokka stopped his irritating laughter, then explained further, "We just caught three gophers actually, using my shirt as a net- which is why I'm not wearing it."

"Oh." Sokka seemed to think for a moment like he was about to accept Zuko's reasoning. "But wait, there's nothing in your shirt." he said, pointing down at the partly shredded red shirt.

"Huh?" Zuko and Suki said, both turning to realize the shirt that was now empty. "Oh.. I guess I dropped it when I took the knife from your hand." Suki said. "They probably escaped back into their tunnels."

Zuko turned on Sokka, all his hours of wandering around, his time spent with his hand stuck in a hole, the effort of trapping the gophers- now pointless because of Sokka. "You.." Zuko started, trying to get the words out and keep the flames in. "You just ruined everything," he growled. "This was supposed to-"

"Oh, shut up," Sokka said, glaring. "You're here, on the ground, alone, and _shirtless_ , with Suki- and you think _you_ have the right to be mad?"

"I spent hours out here, and just finally managed to get something, and then you charge in here, causing them to escape!"

"I don't care!"

"I noticed that!" Zuko put his head in his hands and took a deep breath. Then he looked up. "Whatever, it doesn't matter now." he said, and looked at the hole. "We might be able to repeat-"

"It _does_ still matter," Sokka said. "For trying to steal Suki from me, I challenge you to a SwordBending-Kai!"

Zuko stared at him. _"What?"_

Sokka gave him a defiant glare. "You heard me."

"You're the one at fault here for letting go what we worked so hard to get! I never tried stealing your girlfriend- and there's no such thing as SwordBending already!" He could feel a headache coming.

"Both of you calm down!" Katara yelled. Zuko jumped, having completely forgotten about her, and not knowing when she actually joined them. She turned to Sokka. "You were going to challenge him anyways, and you know it." she turned to Zuko. "And you.. well, no actually, you have every right to be mad at him."

"Hey!" Sokka objected.

"Fine. Zuko, please be more careful in the future to avoid this type of situation."

"But Katara, you were the one who asked me to go look for him." Suki said.

Katara hesitated, then sighed, "I know, you're right." She turned to Zuko. "But still."

Zuko glared at Sokka one more time, before he sighed. "Anyways Sokka, We could use your help now catching the gophers again." He lifted his halfway shredded shirt. "This is of no use anymore, so we'll be needing yours."

Zuko expected him to complain, but he just shrugged, took it off, and handed it to him. "Sure. But afterward, we're SwordBending."

"There's no such thing." Zuko said, taking the offered clothing. He passed it to Suki to repeat what she did before. "But sure, if you promise to do all the hunting again."

"Deal."

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 **Notes: This one was a bit long, but the next one will be pretty short probably. I hope you liked Zuko getting his hand stuck in the ground, the person who's village he burned down helping him, and then Sokka coming and taking advantage of his own misunderstanding and Zuko's irritation with hunting to get him to agree to his challenge. :P**

 **The next chapter is the last; it will probably take me a couple days to write it. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and will go on to the next. Please review!**


	5. The Delayed, but Fulfilled

**The other one seemed long, I said. The next and last one would be short, I said. Now look at this- twice the size of my biggest chapter. Well, sorry I guess. It didn't really turn out that great, and the actual fighting scene is actually very short, which is why I assumed the entire chapter would be short- shows what I know. Enjoy?**

* * *

 **The Delayed, but Fulfilled**

A little while later, they were heading back to the tents with four gophers tied in Sokka's shirt that were to be cleaned and cooked by dinner.

As they entered the camp, Aang came up to them with a worried expression. "Where have you all been?" he asked.

"Getting meat." Katara answered.

"But you already made lunch."

"For dinner."

"Oh.. it took everyone to hunt for your guys' food?"

"Apparently."

Aang stared at them as they started to pass him. "What's wrong?"

Katara sighed. "I really don't know." She turned to the counter and started picking up bowls as the others sat around the fireplace and the pot hanging above it.

Aang turned to Zuko. "I don't know either." he grumbled, accepting a bowl and spoon from Katara.

Aang then looked at Suki, who just shrugged, leaning toward the pot with a ladle.

Finally, Aang turned to Sokka, who was in the process of eating the stew as if he was starving. "There was a misunderstanding," Sokka said through a mouthful of food. He swallowed and cleared his throat. "And now everyone's in a bad mood."

"It was your misunderstanding." Zuko said irritably.

"Okay.." Aang said hesitantly. "And why are you both not wearing shirts?"

"Huh," Sokka looked down; he had forgotten about it. "Right, we used our shirts as nets in hunting," he explained. "Unfortunately, that means we're each a shirt less than we were, and I don't know about Zuko, but I don't own too many of them."

Zuko was about to say something, but Sokka just remembered. "Oh!" he said, turning to Aang. "We're going to have another.." he cleared his throat dramatically. "SWORDBEN-"

"We're going to have a quick sparring match after lunch," Zuko interrupted. Sokka glared at him, and started to say, _'Hey! Don't you have manners, being a prince, I'd have thought so!'_ But Zuko continued. "Afterward," he gave Sokka a stern look. "Sokka will get back to normal."

"Oh, okay," Aang said, after a mouthful of stew. "Then can I watch?" he asked.

"Sure Aang!" Sokka said. "I want everyone to watch how I beat him," He beamed. "Well, maybe not Katara, sense she needs to wash the dishes, but I wish Suki-" From his left, Katara slapped him. Sokka rubbed his cheek absently as he continued, "But I wish Suki could." He looked at Suki, sitting on his right, and asked in what he hoped was a convincing tone, _"Please?"_

"Sorry Sokka, I'm going to help Katara clean up after lunch, and then I'm taking a bath," she said, smiling apologetically.

Sokka sighed. "So there you have it; it'll just be you and Toph watching us." He paused. "Wait a minute," He looked around. "Hey, Aang, where's Toph?"

Aang blinked. "She didn't come back with you?"

Sokka was about to give a sarcastic, _'Oh, of course she did- that's why I'm asking you. Silly me.'_ when Katara sighed irritably. "Toph's mad," she said, setting down her finished bowl. "I was asking what she wanted for lunch earlier, and she listed off ten or so different meat dishes; so I just agreed to add meat to the stew, and roast what Zuko came back with, but.. the koala-sheep chunks I had been keeping frozen had spoiled, and then Zuko was still gone after the food had already made was finished. I told her it would have to wait until tonight. She went and shut herself in her tent."

Sokka looked into his near empty second bowl of stew. Aang was about to reply to Katara, but Sokka interrupted. "Wait, you're telling me there's no meat in this?!" he exclaimed, starring at her in horror. There was no betrayal as great as this.

She just rose an eyebrow at him. "You only just now noticed, oh 'meat and sarcasm guy'?"

Sokka blinked, his horror replaced with confusion. "How did you know about that?"

"Toph told me."

"How did _Toph_ know about that?!" He thought; Toph hadn't shown up until after Aang had blown away the- "Wait, so she was there even _before_ Aang showed up?"

"Guys," Aang said, drawing their attention. "About Toph.."

"You're right," Sokka said, setting down the deceitful food in disgust. "I'll go find her and make sure she's-"

"Checking if she's okay while she's still mad?" Zuko asked warily.

"-still coming to watch the SwordBending match."

They stared at each other. "Seriously, Sokka?"

Sokka blinked in response. He walked over to Toph's stone tent. He knew nothing would cheer Toph up more than entertainment- other than, of course, meat. She'd be fine as soon as she had some delicious meat- and revenge on those who kept it from her. Entertainment would sooth her until dinner at least. Hopefully.

He stopped in front of her tent and waited. And waited. After nearly a minute of this, he started stomping around the tent. "Toph! I know you heard or felt me, or whatever, so open up!" He glared at the stone as he circled it, irritated with Toph for ignoring him. There was no response, and when he made it to the other side, he saw why. It was empty. "Huh," he said mildly. "Where'd she go?" He scratched the side of him head and looked around.

Suddenly there was a boom and dust cloud from behind a hill in the distance- just where he and Toph had created the sparring field. Sokka ran over to it, and got there just as Toph dropped a huge rock on the ground for seemingly no reason. "Um, Toph?" Sokka asked, coming up next to her cautiously. "Uh.. what are you doing?"

Toph rounded on him with a scowl. "I'm getting rid of pent up energy," she said. "You got a problem with that or something?"

"Um, no, not really."

"Okay then!" She turned back around and started to lift the gigantic rock again, trembling under the weight.

Sokka just stood there and watched Toph pick up the rock, drop the rock, pick up the rock, drop the rock, and so on until her arms were shaking violently. He stepped in between her and her abused rock after the fifth time. "Toph, you should-" Suddenly, her legs gave out, and she collapsed, the rock falling directly behind him, close enough to scrape his back. He froze, then quickly turned around only to have his face touching the boulder. He stumbled backwards, tripped over Toph who was on her hands and knees, and stared uncomprehendingly at her. "Toph, what were you doing?! I was almost crushed- in fact , you nearly crushed _yourself_!" He stood up, and placed his hands on his hips, glaring down at her panting figure. "That's it- no more playing with dirt for the rest of today."

"What?" Pant. "Are you-" Panting. "Yammering abou-" Deep breaths. "-t, Meathead."

"Toph, look up."

"I'm blind.. already." she said, still catching her breath.

"You don't have to be able to see, just do it." Lacking the energy to fight him apparently, she obliged. "Alright, now stick your arm out in front of you." She did, and her palm connected fully with the rock. "Okay, now did you know that I was exactly where your arm is now when you dropped that thing?"

"Huh," she said, retracting her arm, and standing shakily to her feet. "How are you not crushed?"

That wasn't the reply he was looking for. "Apologize!" he yelled indignantly, stomping a foot to the ground.

"You're right," she agreed. "I should really apologize to the rock- imagine if it was stained with _your_ blood? It would be shamed among it's kind." she said sadly, shaking her head in pity. Apparently she was forgetting that she'd almost crushed herself too.

Sokka sighed. "Whatever," he said. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Not-So-Snoozles." she replied.

"That again? Anyways-"

"Sokka!" Aang called. Sokka turned to see him and Zuko walking towards them. "Whoa, what's that?" he asked, staring wide eyed at the stone sparring field Toph had made.

"That, dear Avatar, is where our SwordBending-Kai will take place." Sokka said proudly. "Toph helped me set up the perfect arena for us." He gestured at it, allowing Aang and Zuko to appreciate it. The ground of loose gravel, filled with tall stone pillars, some of which were so close, they were almost touching, whereas others were nearly solitary.

Zuko stared at it. "You want to fight in that.. thing?"

"Yep," Sokka answered, with a firm nod.

Zuko just kept looking at it.

"So then the booming sound was Toph?" Aang asked, turning to her.

"Well.. yeah, but not for this; considering it was Earthbendning, she did all of it pretty quietly." He pointed to the abused rock from earlier. "The noise was from her almost crushing me, while about to pass ou- ow!" He rubbed his arm where she just slammed her fist.

"More important things are needed to be.. _talked about_." she said, ignoring Sokka's glare and stepping threateningly toward Zuko.

"Yes?" he asked, his attention taken from the stone structure to look almost straight down as Toph got into his personal space.

"You and SugerQueen are the ones responsible for my lack of lunch," she stated, poking a finger into the Firebender's chest.

Sokka stifled a laugh, and Zuko glared at him. "But wait," he said, pointing at Sokka. "Isn't it because he hasn't been hunting that I had to do it in the first place?"

"Yes," Toph said. "But he's working hard to do something that I like the idea of, so I can forgive him; plus, he suffers just as much as I do with the lack of steaks, ribs, meat buns, stews, and all other sort of amazing foods."

Sokka's mouth watered.

He forced himself to stop thinking of delicious meats, and help Zuko out instead. "Hey, come on Toph, leave him alone; he's part of your entertainment too, isn't he?"

Zuko blinked in surprise as Toph turned away from him and toward Sokka. "Yeah, but only because you forced him to be."

"I also forced him to be the hunter." Zuko gave a slight smile in silent thanks, and Sokka sent a small nod over Toph's head in return.

She pondered this for a moment, then tilted her head to the side, and asked, "So you want me to get back at both of you then?"

"Forget I said anything." Sokka stated firmly.

Eyes widened, Zuko stepped toward Sokka. "I thought you were-"

"Sure." Toph answered Sokka. "On one condition.. I'm bored, so hurry up and fight Sparky already. You already challenged him and all that, right?"

Sokka grinned down at her. "Yep!"

"Then why have you gotten started?"

"Right," Sokka said, turning to Zuko. "Lets do it now that everyone's here." He gestured to Zuko, Toph, Aang, and himself.

"Alright!" Aang cheered.

"Lets get this over with." Zuko muttered. He drew his own twin blades.

"Whoa, wait, not right here," Sokka said. He pointed very clearly at the rocks. "Over there, remember? _Over there_." He jutted his finger at it.

Zuko looked at him, and sighed. "Lets go 'over there' then." The four of them walked over to it, Sokka and Zuko continuing into the gravel as Toph and Aang stopped just outside of it. As they got to what seemed to be the middle, he stopped, and Zuko did the same. Zuko readied his swords. "Ready?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something," Sokka said.

"Really? Right now?" Zuko asked in apparent exasperation.

"Yes, really. Can I use Boomerang since-"

"No."

"But why not?! You have two swords, and I only have one!"

"These are twin blades" Zuko said. "Two halves of a whole; you use them together at all times, and so they are only one weapon."

Sokka stared at him. "What type of nonsense excuse is that?" he asked. "No matter how you look at it, you're holding two swords!"

"It's not nonsense, it's the meaning behind this weapon!"

"It _is_ nonsense; you're holding _two_ swords. Yeah, maybe they each only have half a hilt, but that's what we call _bad sword design_."

Zuko stared at Sokka as if in shock. Then he started taking deep breaths. He didn't seem to notice the smoke coming from his nose and mouth. Sokka did. "No boomerangs, Sokka." was all Zuko said. Sokka didn't argue further.

"Moving on.." Sokka said. "Hey Toph!" he called. "Give us a signal for when to start!"

Suddenly, a huge rock soared through the sky, broke the tops off of a few pillars, and landed right beside both Zuko and Sokka. They stared. "Start!" Toph called after it.

They each dropped into a stance and raised their swords. Zuko waited a second testing if Sokka would attack first, which he didn't, and then quickly became the aggressor.

Sokka retreated as he hurriedly parried the attacks. Knowing he couldn't keep it up, he swung at Zuko's head to distract him. One sword blocked his attack, the other hit the blade nearly taking it from Sokka's hand. The first sword came down at his exposed head, and Sokka quickly sidestepped it.

A few similar exchanges happened until he felt a pillar behind him. As Zuko attacked again, Sokka quickly spun around the pillar, causing the swords to hit stone in a stream of sparks, and he attacked from the other side.

He gained the momentum of the fight, as he pushed Zuko back. But it didn't last long, as Zuko, parrying an attack, spun with the momentum, and side kicked Sokka in the back, knocking him to the ground.

Zuko started to swing downward, but Sokka turned and threw the gravel at Zuko's face as he scrambled back up. Then he ducked behind another pillar. Zuko didn't attack. He had been right about Zuko not wanting to risk damage to his swords, and so mostly avoided the pillars like he did the fountain at the air temple. Sokka smiled into the black, meteorite metal of his blade, as he used it's reflection to watch Zuko slowly come around toward the right side of the pillar.

Sokka spun around the left side, striking down at Zuko's back, but Zuko, with some stupidly amazing reflexes, spun around quickly enough to catch his sword, deflect it to the side, and thrust at his chest all at once. Sokka evaded the attack, and rushed behind another pillar.

After a quick second's breath, he started to his right, and stopped as a sword sweep came down directly in front of him. He jumped out after it passed, and stabbed at Zuko's chest, which Zuko parried easily to the side. Knowing that would happen, Sokka kicked forward directly afterward, knocking Zuko down. But Zuko just rolled backward back onto his feet, advancing on Sokka instantly.

Sokka jump to his left, back behind the pillar again. He bent and picked of a handful of gravel, but as has stood up, Zuko's sword came around either side of the pillar like pincers, and Sokka dived forward to escape them, getting to slight scratches on the sides of his ribs.

Rolling to a kneeling position, facing his attacker, he threw the gravel into Zuko's face, and Zuko swung his head to avoid them just as Sokka attacked his leg. Just before it landed, Sokka twisted the sword, and Zuko only got slapped to the shin by the flat of the blade.

Knowing that wouldn't count for much, Sokka quickly tried to back out of reach, but Zuko's right hand sword came at his neck too fast, and Sokka could only block it with his own blade. Then, out of some instinct, as Zuko's sword made contact with his, he leveled the point, and and slid the length of his blade along Zuko's in a thrust to the throat. He stopped just before it reached.

They both paused, just breathing. Sokka's breath was coming out a little faster and more ragged, but that was fine. Then he felt a prickling sensation and looked down at the tip of Zuko's left hand sword, had stabbed into his upper leg.

"Ow!" Sokka exclaimed, jumping backward. "Ow, ow, ouch!" He glared at Zuko, who just stared dully at him, his swords loose in grip. "Zuko!" he yelled, getting the Firebender's attention. "Apologize!" he demanded, gesturing from his leg, to the three inches of blood on his sword.

"What?" Zuko blinked, then looked at Sokka's leg. "Oh, I'm so sorry Sokka," he said quickly, and then looked around as if expecting Katara to just appear and be all 'healy-hands' instantly.

Sokka gave him a pointedly unimpressed look.

"Sokka, I really am-"

Sokka waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, save it for later, Zuko." He smiled at the distraught Firebender. Then Sokka started limping away toward where they had left Aang and Toph.

When he made it back to them, Aang said, "Guys, listen to this; Toph blindfolded me and insisted that I 'listen to the earth' and all, but-"

"Actually Aang, could I get a ride back into camp?" Sokka interrupted, grimacing.

Aang looked down, gaped, and hurriedly unfolded his glider, telling Sokka to get on. He did, and then apologized for bleeding on him. When they got back to the tent, Katara quickly healed him, and told him to get lots of rest.

Instead, he had everyone sit around the fire as he retold his heroic fight. At parts, Toph would interrupt saying that some parts were lies for some reason. But by the end, she was on his side.

"He won because I let him in order to get him back to his chores." Zuko said, crossing his arms with an annoyed expression.

" _You're lying_ ," Toph said in a pleased singing voice.

After an irritated look in her direction, Zuko faced Sokka. "What I don't understand is that you had planned to start a sword fight with me, but-"

"SwordBending-Kai." Sokka corrected. "Or just a SwordBending match to be less formal."

Zuko gave him the same look he did Toph. "My point is that despite planning ahead of time, you spent the duel rushing around. It didn't seem very carefully planned as I'd expect from you if you were actually serious."

"Yeah.." Sokka admitted hesitantly, remembering earlier in the day when he had been with Toph giving specific placements for the pillars, while coming up with plans. That was, until his sister showed up. "Katara," he said, pointing at her. "Said that she had sent Suki after you; so I took off and left Toph to finish with just basic instructions. When I found you, I challenged you instantly, and.. yeah. I only used the most basic ideas that I had, and was planning for my strategy, such as hiding behind the pillars, throwing gravel, using the reflection of my sword, and predicting your responses based on our last match. I wish I had more time to coordinate how and when everything would've happened; I originally wanted parts of the field to be vastly different from each other, lead you into them, and then.." He stopped. "Oh, sorry, I'm rambling."

Zuko stared at him. "Next time," he said. "I'm choosing where we spar."

Sokka sighed in response, which just turned into a yawn. Then he said, "You know what I think is most impressive about this?" he asked the group in general. "That I did it without sleeping for two days." With that, he fell backwards, passed out before touching the ground. He wouldn't wake up for three days.

 _What Begins with Sokka, Ends with Sokka._

 **On that note, THE END.**

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 **Notes: This series didn't turn out as nice as I had hoped, but I'm new, so hopefully my writing will get better. I hope you enjoyed it, and that I didn't have many out of character moments.**

 **Please review; I want to know if you like it or not.**

 _ **PLEASE REVIEW.**_


	6. The Return (epilogue)

**This is the last chapter of the story- and** **epilogue** **of sorts. Thanks for reading this series! This was the first fanfiction story I've ever written, so I'm glad there were people who liked it. Although I've since realized many mistakes in it. I hope you enjoy this finial chapter to the story.**

* * *

 **The Return**

Zuko stood, leaning on the porch railing, and watching Toph train Aang in earthbending- from a distance, after he previously learned how dangerous it was to be too close.

He was bored; back when they were camping at the air temple, and on the field, there had been a lot of camp chores to be taken care of such as hunting, cooking, cleaning, making the camp fire, setting up and taking down tents, settling the daily arguments, and many others.

Around his family's house, it was just buying food, and cooking- and cleaning when it came to dishes.

It was a little ironic though, that he should have these thoughts, considering he never once thought about any of those things until his banishment- and then still not most of them until after he and his uncle became fugitives.

He was watching the earthbending in relative quiet -except for the earthbending itself- when Sokka and Suki showed up on the other side of the large porch, and started walking in his direction. He groaned as he started hearing small pieces of their conversation. Sokka was feeding nuts out of a small bag to himself and Aang's lemur on his shoulder while telling in great detail and expressions just how he defeated Zuko in the sword match for the hundredth time- and like all the ones before it, he had completely changed what happened.

As he came closer, Zuko could clearly hear, "-And then he was on the ground, looking up at me with this _terrified_ look in his eyes!" he laughed. "But the best part of it, was when he begged my forgiveness for hurting my leg slightly," He laughed harder.

"Ha.." Suki said hesitantly, noticing Zuko as they got closer; meanwhile, her oblivious boyfriend noticed no such thing as he wiped a tear from his eye in mirth. "Are you.. are you sure that's how it happened?" she asked while looking at Zuko as they neared, almost at comfortable talking distance.

"Hm.." Sokka pondered. "I can't say for sure, but.. it can't be too far off from that, right?"

"Yes," Zuko said, butting in their conversation. "Yes, it can, and it was."

"Eep!" Sokka screeched, jumping a step back. He recovered, and in a overly formal voice, said, "I am sure you are mistaken, Zuko," Zuko's eye twitched. "I'm sure I remember accurately."

"Is that so?" Zuko asked softly- threateningly.

Sokka missed his undertone, and replied confidently. "It _is_ so, isn't Momo?" He scratched behind the lemur's ear.

'That's enough," Zuko growled- he was frustrated, annoyed, and bored, so his already limited self restraint was now missing completely. He'd worry about finding it again later. "Lets have a rematch now then; we both have our weapons, and there's not much for either of us to do." Zuko said.

The nut that Sokka was in the process of putting in his mouth dropped from his fingers, and was quickly snatched and eaten by the lemur. "Well, uh.." Sokka mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "Oh, I'd like to, but.. I have Suki with me right now, and it would be rude; how about tomorrow?" he asked.

 _'So you have enough time to plan something out and adopt Toph's help? No.'_ "I'm sure Suki would love to see you act out your story."

"Ah.. but no two fights are the same," Sokka stumbled. "And.. yeah."

"Even better; it would be boring boring if she already new exactly how it would go." He turned to her. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea," she said with a mischievous smile. "After all, he already beat you once before, I'm sure he could do again. He is a _man_ after all, and no _man_ would ever turned down a _manly_ challenge from another _man_.. right Sokka?"

"But.." he said, weakly pointing at the lemur happily indulging itself in the bag of nuts. "Momo would be in danger."

"Suki can take Momo." Zuko said smiling at her.

"I can take Momo," Suki agreed, picking the lemur off her depressed boyfriend.

Zuko smiled at Sokka's completely dejected look as he turned to his girlfriend. "You never go easy on me, do you?" he muttered at Suki.

"Of course not." she answered, giving him a light peck on the cheek, before walking away and leaning her back against the wall of the house, watching them.

Sokka sighed loudly in a response, then turned to Zuko. "And _you,_ prince-I'm-a-jerk, are becoming more like your manipulative sister every day." he glared accusingly at him.

Zuko stared back, unperturbed by Sokka's jab. "Alright, lets get started." He withdrew his twin blades from their shared scabbard.

Sokka took a step back. "Hold on, right here, right now?" he asked, the pitch of his voice raised slightly.

Zuko nodded.

"You wont give me anytime at all to plan, will you?"

Zuko shook his head.

Sokka sighed. "Right, sneaky blue spirit persona. Fine." he muttered. Then Sokka also drew his sword, and they faced each other.

Zuko made the first attack, swiftly going for the legs with his right blade, and an upward body cut with his left. Sokka blocked, and dodged both quickly, returning with a thrust that was parried to the side.

Zuko lunged in, slashing with both swords, but Sokka also stepped in close, blocking and shoving Zuko back off balance. "Ha," Sokka said, swinging his blade repetitively, and keeping Zuko stumbling backwards. "It looks like I've improved!"

Right before he was about to fall backwards, Zuko stuck his back leg out, widening his stance considerably, and gained his footing back. He feinted a sideways strike at Sokka's head, who ducked it, coming straight into the path of his second blade that stopped just at Sokka's ear.

They both froze a second, then Zuko felt pain- a lot of pain in his forward right foot. He looked down to see the black blade _inside_ his foot.

Cursing, he droped his twin blades, and shoved Sokka back, who took his sword with him. Then he sat down heavily, clenching his injury. He glared up at a dazed Sokka furiously. "You. Stabbed. All the way. Through. My. _Foot!_ "

Sokka blinked, and stared down at him. "I'm sorry!" he said. "I was ducking your sword anyway, and I saw that your foot was unguarded, so I stuck, and.. um.. sorry?"

"You sacrificed your _head_ for my _foot_?!" Zuko shouted, hoping it would force some sense into the skull that clearly was empty of it.

Meanwhile, Suki and run off, leaving Momo left behind, and as Zuko glared up at Sokka, and Sokka continued making defenses for himself, Suki came back with Katara.

"Zuko!" she exclaimed, running then kneeling next to him. She glared up at Sokka.

"Oh, not you too!" he complained. "I already apologized!"

Katara dutifully ignored him, as she spoke to Zuko. "I'm going to need to take your shoe off," she said. He nodded, and bent forward, but as he started pulling at his boot, he gasped in pain, and his vision blurred. "I said that _I_ will need to take it off!" Then she did, after instructing Suki to hold his shoulders down, and Sokka his other leg. Then she quickly pulled it off, causing his vision to turn red, then black for a moment, before slowly returning to normal as he saw Katara's glowing hands on his bleeding foot.

Soon, the pain was all but a soreness. He sat up, glared at Sokka once more. Then thanked Katara, and stood up slowly.

"Be careful," Katara said. "I don't think you should be walking around much for the next day, both because of your foot itself, and that you're a little low on blood now." He nodded briefly to her.

Then he turned to Sokka and Suki, who had joined hands. "Well," he started with a smirk, his mood improved along with his foot. "I guess I win."

Sokka looked down dejected. Suki laughed lightly. "Even so, I think Sokka looked very.. _manly_ out there with you." she said, resting her head on Sokka's shoulder.

Soka perked up instantly, though the smile that he gave Zuko was still a little subdued. "Yeah.. sorry about your foot Zuko- seriously."

Zuko started to glare in response, but hesitated, then sighed instead. "It's fine, I probably deserved it after your leg."

Sokka nodded agreeably which irritated Zuko. "Yeah, but still.. friends aren't supposed to hurt and maim each other- at least, I'm pretty sure that's not how it works. But then, you could ask Toph..."

"No." Zuko answered.

Sokka nodded. "No." he agreed.

Then Sokka sighed. "Well, I guess I lost this swordbending match."

Zuko nodded. "But you're still a much better swordbender than you used to be."

Sokka's eyes grew huge.

"What?" Zuko asked confused.

Suki snickered.

"What did you say I was?" Sokka asked in amazement.

"A better swordben-" Zuko's eyes widened. "A better.. a better swordsman?.." he finished weakly.

"I don't think so," Sokka said gleefully. He cleared his throat, then dramatically, "I might have lost the battle of swords, but-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Zuko interrupted, glaring murderously.

Sokka's smile faded slightly. "I.. won the.. battle of words!" he finished in a hurry before taking off running away.

Zuko didn't give chase. He looked at Suki. "He is.. really annoying."

"I know." she replied. "And I love him for it."

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 **Notes: I hoped you liked it. If so, maybe let me know? Or not. Your choice. Thank you to any of you who do. And I hope that all of you who read this, enjoyed the final chapter. If you liked this story, then maybe look at some of my others- because I have those now. :P**


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